Educator Spotlight: Jessica Davis

Jessica Davis, an environmental educator with Randolph County Soil and water Conservation District and the NC Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts education coordinator recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification.

Jessica provides environmental education programs for the local school system and youth organizations in Randolph County. “In my role as the association education coordinator I provide resources for other soil and water educators and develop curriculum that reflects the work we do in Soil and Water Conservation districts. This curriculum will eventually be offered as an instructional workshop for environmental education certification. In my off time, I enjoy going camping and spending time with my family. I love to paint and do woodworking projects as well.”

When asked about her favorite part of the program, Jessica says it was the instructional workshops. “Coming from a teaching background, I always went to workshops and trainings that I felt had little value or that I could implement in the classroom. These trainings were the complete opposite and so valuable. Anytime I talk to someone, I always brag about how good these trainings are and how I can easily use them for school programs.”

She said the outdoor experiences really had an impact on her. “The outdoor experiences stand out to me because I was able to participate in workshops that got me comfortable with doing programming outside. The online trainings through the NC Museum of Natural Sciences helped me get outside and pay attention to the incredible things that are happening around me.”

For her community partnership project, Jessica worked with the Asheboro Housing Authority and Randolph County 4-H to create lessons to educate children in one community about the environment and how to protect natural resources around their home which led to a nature play day. “After teaching the first lesson about water quality, I realized that the kids living in the neighborhood did not play outside much and that is where I got the idea to do a nature play day with them.  Allison, the 4-H agent has helped them install raised beds to grow their own vegetables, so I did lessons on soil properties to help them further understand how the soil quality helps plant growth.”

Her overall goal for the project was the help the kids living in the community create a bond with nature.  “I wanted them to understand why we need to protect our natural resources and how you can enjoy the outdoors. Through a series of lessons, I was able to educate the kids about water quality using the EnviroScape watershed model to show the impact of not cleaning up after pets or how harmful chemicals can enter the water supply.  This was critical because of the creek that flows through the property and eventually leads to a large river.  I then did a lesson focused on nature play where the kids got to participate in various stations based on different nature related activities.” 

Jessica says the certification program helped her teaching become more inclusive. “When designing lessons, I became more conscious of how to make sure that all students participating could have the same experience. Things I considered was how we would access outdoor areas, how to divide tasks so that each student can participate and breaking down lessons into smaller segments to hold students’ interest.”

She says the program also changed how she thinks about environmental issues. “I am now more aware of human impact on our environment. I like to stress to education program participants on how they can help decrease our human impacts on water quality, air quality and other environmental issues. I also try not to present environmental issues from a one-sided perspective, I provide information for participants on the issues and allow them to form their own opinion."